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BUFFALO Search Results: “Society”

BUFFALO PRESENTATIONS

In False Positive from PechaKucha Night Buffalo Vol. 15, artist, architect and educator Mark Shepard reminds us thatit is not just the trust we place in network infrastructure but also our willingness to trade bits of personal data for access to online services that renders us vulnerable. Caught between the ruse and exploit, we find ourselves subject to ever more sophisticated forms of profiling, both online and off. Yet if algorithmically generated data-bodies are our future, they are also prone to error. Sherpard's project FALSE POSITIVE deploys text messaging, stealth infrastructure, street intervention, and data visualization to enact a surveillance conspiracy engaging the public in an intimate, techno-political conversation with the mobile technologies on which they depend.

"Typography influences every day decisions, perceptions and opinions, so why would it not influence the most important decision a nation makes – electing a leader?"

In The Politics of Type from PechaKucha Night Buffalo Vol. 15, partner of Buffalo-based P22 Type Foundry, Inc., Carima El-Bahairy breaks down the relationship between political campaign typography and campaign results. From Abraham Lincoln to Richard Nixon to Barack Obama to the 2016 Presidential Candidates, El-Bahairy presents an analysis of the effectiveness of various graphic identities employed on campaign buttons, bumper stickers and logos. She even predicts some 2016 winners based on their logos...time will tell!

"In the project, Refersal of Fortune, a series of robotic living gardens, I use the plant to represent the complex relationship between human life and economic growth."

In Reversal of Fortune from PechaKucha Night Buffalo Vol. 15, interdisciplinary artist and educator Stephanie Rothenberg talks about her recent project "Reversal of Fortune," a series of robotic gardens that examine the intersection of social media, finance and philanthropy. In these gardens plants represent recipients of charitable acts and loan borrowers in economically challenged regions. Through this lens the complex relationship between human life and economic growth is made visible.

In A Brief Memoir of Architecural Space from PechaKucha Buffalo vol. 17, independent arts consultant and co-organizer of PechaKucha Buffalo, Joanna Gillespie, delivers a meditation on twenty of the fifty places she has lived since birth. From Victorian-era structures in Buffalo, NY and San Francisco, CA, to the wilds of the 1970's California coast, to modern and efficient rural Japan, to a Postmodern art utopia in Maine, and beyond, Gillespie recounts a particular memory from each space. Through all of the temporal landscapes we find ourselves in, Gillespie concludes, "We forge on, either clumsily or assuredly. We keep on keeping on." Even if we move fifty times.

“We need to bring the fun back to reading, and rolling up with a book bike might be a way to do that.”

In The Story of Buffalo BookBike from PechaKucha Buffalo vol. 17, Founder of Buffalo BookBike in Buffalo, NY, Amy Ozay, talks about her love of Buffalo, books, and bikes. Taking inspiration from similar programs in other cities, she launched Buffalo BookBike in 2015, which gives free books to the children of Buffalo in parks and playgrounds throughout the summer months. The BookBike has given away over 1,000 books to date, with the hopes of slowing down the summer slide. Her dream is to increase the reach of the BookBike, foster more collaboration between local literacy organizations, and help convert Buffalo parks to open air libraries in the future. As Cicero wrote, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

"An architect, it seems, has to be an optimist and idealist. That by building we're somehow making the world a better place. But before you need buildings, you need people."

In Collage City from PechaKucha Buffalo Vol. 17, artist, designer, realtor and retired paramedic, Jean-Michel Reed, shares stories and perceptions of Buffalo, New York as an intimate outsider. Reed moved to Buffalo in 1992, working first as a paramedic, and later transitioning to both a designer and a realtor as the city attempted an about face. Cites are made first of people, and then within those individual people, of experiences. It is this combination of convergent and divergent experiences that construct the sociological makeup of place and city, which, in turn manufactures the physical landscape.

“Think of me as a time traveler. I’m going to take you back to a place called Buffalo in the 1970s.”

In Buffalo Entertainment District Project, 1977-78 from PechaKucha Buffalo Vol. 18, attorney and urban renewal advocate, Frank Palen, recalls the creation of a historic district for theatre and culture from a once abandoned rust belt urban core. From 1977 to 1979, Palen was Research Associate in the Center for Community Research and Development at the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Environmental Design, serving as Coordinator of the Buffalo Entertainment District Project. The University at Buffalo’s graduate studio investigated the potential of promoting a theater district in what was then an increasingly abandoned section of Downtown, despite various setbacks and a challenging political climate. The result was a very high-profile effort that set an agenda for the redevelopment of Buffalo that continues today.

"How can we make our endeavors clear and approachable enough that we can actually contribute to the public debate at a very high level?"

In Rethinking Resettlement from PechaKucha Buffalo Vol. 18, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, Erkin Özay, reviews some of the social and design issues involved in rehousing and supporting Buffalo, New York's new Americans. Özay's Spring 2016 UB graduate studio explored the potential for temporary and long-term housing for newly arrived refugees and immigrants, as well as the role of supporting institutions, community assets, and reimagining the existing housing stock. Özay's project investigates "compassionate urbanism." He is interested in how groups of limited means--new and existing residents--support each other through careful intersections.

"It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation."

In Universal Design from PechaKucha Buffalo Vol. 18, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Director of the IDeA Center in Buffalo, NY, Edward Steinfeld, ArchD, AIA, provides an overview of how the built environment affects access. The University at Buffalo's Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA Center) is dedicated to making environments and products more usable, safer and healthier in response to the needs of an increasingly diverse population. The IDeA Center’s activities are based on the philosophy of Inclusive Design, often called “Universal Design” or “Design for All.” It is a way of thinking that can be applied in any design activity, business practice, program or service involving interaction of people with the physical, social or virtual worlds.

The American Institute of Architects is the voice of the architectural
profession in the US and the resource for its members in service to society.
Through a culture of innovation, AIA empowers its members and inspires creation for a better built environment.

How to survive getting older? That is the question asked by Ludo Hellemans. We are facing an ageing society, especially here in Limburg. The demographic change poses new challenges for the entire society. It is not only a challenge for the elderly but also for younger citizens.

Ludo has a solution for this challenge, a new form of community housing for citizens over 50, located right in the middle of the city holding two core characteristics: mutual support to ensure autonomy of the residents and sustained interaction with the neighbourhood.

“Somehow as we grow up, art disappears out of our lives. This is the story of how art reentered mine.”

In "Simple as ABC, Art for Behavioural Change!", from PechaKucha Night MaastrichtVol. 31, Prof. Shyama Ramani addressed the major problems of Indian villages - open defecation and littering of public spaces. Policy makers are helplessly wondering how to bring about behavioural change. Shyama proposed that communal art forms can be used as an instrument of behavioural change. How? Listen to this talk to find out.

Prof. Shyama Ramani of UNU-MERIT has been voted one of the #100 Women Achievers of India in the category of ‘Hygiene and Sanitation’.

What makes an activist? Erin Schrode will talk about her unexpected journey and the pivotal moments which led her to co-found the Turning Green in 2005, a global youth-driven non-profit that works with highschool and college students around environmental education and advocacy, focusing on conscious lifestyle choices for individuals, schools, and communities.

Erin Schrode champions active citizenry and environmentalstewardship worldwide, launching a youth education project in Haiti, writing curriculum for an eco education center for Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian youth, developing recycling infrastructure in Ghana, and recently working with Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan refugees in the Mediterranean.

What is the future of our cities? In a time of major demographic and fast socio-cultural changes, we are looking for keys to unlock, review and re-interpret the traditional urban housing models into new directions.A metamorphosis of the housing market from the static individualistic models towards a dynamic, collective synergy.

Laura Piovan is a Italian architect based in Maastricht and has a passion for people and identity driven design.

In an all-too-rate look at life behind the Iron Curtain, Bill Suhayda explores the conditions that caused the Hungarian people to revolt against both Soviet occupation and the tyranny of communism in the country of his birth. In 1956, some 200,000 people fled Communist Hungary; Bill’s family was among those people risking their lives to escape. Bill dedicated his presentation to those people in Hungary, Austria, and the United States who helped his family escape from tyranny, and those Americans who helped his family assimilate into American culture.

In a whirlwind PechaKucha presentation, architect Emma Fuller discusses a history of language and the city plan - how entitlement has created a new architectural tool for the powerful to dismantle the collective and empower the singular. See examples from Mussolini to Trump in this 20x20 !

Emma Fuller is an associate with Diane Lewis Architect PC and teaches architectural history and theory at Pratt Institute. She received her degree from the Cooper Union. Her work addresses architecture as art and memory. This is expanded upon in published essays, exhibitions and architectural projects including the "Richmond as a Work of Art" series, the IPA fellowship, the Green Ward and Michelangelo-La Tourette papers, and the Nebo House.

Last November, Sueli Brodin and her family adopted a cosmopolitan chicken named Akosua. This experiment is part of Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen’s #PerfectStrangers citizen science art project. Sueli not only takes care of Akosua, but also keeps a diary about everything that she experiences with her. Sueli tells us about the adventures she and her family have lived together with Akosua and what thoughts and questions this experience has provoked.

David Foster is a creative from West Michigan, and as you'll see in his hilarious presentation, he's got a thing for beards. Let him guide you through the complexities of beards in today's society. It was recorded at PechaKucha Night in Grand Rapids Vol. 2.

Roman Babich is partner and business consultant in his company presented his view to the technologies of the future on the PKN vol. 7 Future Technologies Dneproptrovsk. Happy society of the future is group of happy individuals who know their inner potential and learned how to use it with maximum effectiveness.&nbsp;

Would you describe yourself as a thinker, or a feeler?
In today's Presentation of the Day, "Classical versus Romantic" from PKN Derby Vol. 3,&nbsp;James Rice&nbsp;examines the contrast in approaching an idea from a romantic perspective, versus a classical perspective.
He uses a clock as one example of this concept; it could be described classically as functional and mechanical, or romantically as a work of art, a specific time may reference a feeling, and so forth. His presentation features beautiful illustrations by&nbsp;Catherine Sweetman.&nbsp;

You'll remember our partnership with the New Cities Foundation in which we launched an "Urban Innovation" themed month, with the goal of sending up to two presenters to take part in this month's New Cities Summit -- we announced the winners in this post. The Summit is taking place at this very moment, and the photos included in this post show PechaKucha co-founder Mark Dytham, as he talks about the PechaKucha phenomenon to the audience. Make sure to visit the New Cities/WhatWorks Channel to take in an incredible collection of urban innovation stories, told in the PechaKucha format.

How can Hawaii become the model agricultural society for the world?
Josh Lanthier-Welch gives a great crash-course on the agricultural history of the Hawaiian islands. The islands went from feeding being self-sufficient to entirely reliant on imports.
In "Beyond Eating Local: Using History as a Guide to a New Food Security" from PKN Honolulu Vol. 18, Josh shows us how the Hawaiians can once again utilise their lush volcanic farmland to return themselves to a sustainable, self-sufficient agricultural society.

"Politicians do not put enough commitment to the issues that really affect women."In Gender and the General Election, from Huddersfield, Vol. 14,&nbsp;Coco Toma, Vice President Communication and Democracy at the Huddersfield Student Union,&nbsp;looks at developing women's engagement with politics in the 21st century. She takes us back in history to women's suffrage, and on through to the eyes of some of her hero's Rosa Parks, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others, discussing how they have helped been pioneers in many of the political issues woman have faced.&nbsp;

There couldn't a more deserving person of the PechaKucha People spotlight than our trendsetting, globe-trotting, super star organizer in Stockholm, Ewa Kumlin. In addition to a very long list of accomplishments and an unwavering commitment to creativity and communities, she holds the managing director position at Svensk Form, Swedish Society of Design. She's also hosting PechaKucha Global Headquarter members this week in Sweden for a summit of PechaKucha City Organizers coinciding with Stockholm Furniture Fair.

"For me, dancers represent freedom, while salarymen represent something opposite. I like to create this interaction".&nbsp;In&nbsp;Dancing in the Office&nbsp;from&nbsp;PKN Tokyo&nbsp;Vol. 136,&nbsp;photographer&nbsp;Yulia Skogoreva&nbsp;found herself on an interesting and unexpected path that took her from linguistics, to dance, to photography. In her latest project she juxtaposes two completely opposite elements of society, busy salarymen and dancers, and the results are delightful. Have a look!&nbsp;

"How many gems of scientific discovery are out there, published in articles, that we don&rsquo;t know about?"
One of the goals of scientific research should be the improvement of the human reality. But have we created a world in which the journey from discovery to society is so exhausting that it deters academics from embarking on it? And if so, can we do something about it?
In&nbsp;"From Science to Society: A Field full of Landmines"&nbsp;from&nbsp;PechaKucha Night Maastricht&nbsp;Vol. 31,&nbsp;Bart Knols discusses how scientists need to better communicate with those who are outside their field in order to contribute to society's development.